Leading Physicist Stephen Hawking has created an international stir by joining a boycott of Israeli academic institutions and travel to Israel after sending a letter declining an invitation to attend the President’s Conference. While Cambridge originally claimed that Hawking was not attending due to his health, Hawking sent a letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres saying that he was in fact boycotting Israel due to its Palestinian policies.
The letter was an embarrassment for the University of Cambridge which appeared like it was trying to spin the declination of the invitation for reasons of health. Tim Holt, acting communications director at the University of Cambridge, issued a statement that tied the decision to Hawking’s continued struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), known as Lou Gehrig’s disease:”For health reasons, his doctors said he should not be flying at the moment so he’s decided not to attend. He is 71 years old. He’s fine, but he has to be sensible about what he can do.”
However, Hawking sent a letter to Peres clearly stating that he was refusing on principle to travel to the conference in Israel. Hawking described Israel’s treatment and policy of the Palestinians as a “disaster” and reprehensible. Hawking stated that he initially accepted the invitation with the intention to speak out against the policies: “Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.” He then explained that “I accepted the invitation to the Presidential Conference with the intention that this would not only allow me to express my opinion on the prospects for a peace settlement, but also because it would allow me to lecture on the West Bank. However, I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott. In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference. Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.”
There are various groups of academics supporting the boycott of Israeli products as well as academic and cultural ties with Israel, including a group with Desmond Mpilo Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus. The boycott has also received support of groups this year like the Asian American Studies Association. Various divestment policies have been proposed or passed at American academic institutions.
Ironically, MIT linguistics professor and political author Noam Chomsky actually opposed the ban by scholars but was himself banned from Israel simply because of his political views by the Israeli government.
The Hawking controversy reveals a deepening divide among academics in the United States over the boycott — an increasingly heated debate. The Hawking decision comes as Israel has ordered the building of new settlements opposed by the United States and the world community as well as a report this year from the United Nations stating that Israeli have taken a “heavy toll” on the rights and sovereignty of Palestinians. The U.N. complained about the creeping annexation” by Israel in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Others have disagreed that such boycotts are productive and insist that more interaction with Israel is better for pushing reforms. Israel Maimon, chairman of the Presidential Conference, added this week that “Israel is a democracy in which all individuals are free to express their opinions, whatever they may be. The imposition of a boycott is incompatible with open, democratic dialogue.”
The response to Hawking from conservative publications have been extreme. One such site asked “Would Professor Hawking ever survive in any Arab country or under the Palestinian autocracy he shamefully defends?” The Israeli publication noted that “[w]hile in the Arab world disabled people have been called ‘the invisibles,’ because they are segregated and hidden from the public eye, Israel’s work with illness and disabilities would merit a book in itself.”
Hawking’s letter has put the boycott and divestment movement on the front pages of international newspapers and is likely to rekindle the debate on U.S. campuses.
mespo, Being mostly retired I have time to indulge my passion for food. In your neck of the woods, only Bibiana in DC has trippa on it’s seasonal menu[Winter] as an appetizer. There are many restaurants in your area that are Hispanic, Asian and Ethiopian that have trippa. There are several places in upstate NY that have trippa, mostly in the Niagra Falls, area. A place in Cranston, RI, Boca Raton, and of all places Houston! The Houston[Quattro] menu looks VERY good. They have trippa ravioli. Probably so the faint of heart don’t need to avert their eyes! I’ll give you the list if you’re travelling to any of the aforementioned venues.
Where’s the problem? Boycotting Israel is no different than boycotting apartheid South Africa or boycotting a company that uses slave labor to make products.
Read “By Way of Deception”, written by former mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky. It’s an expose by an insider on Israel’s attitudes toward other nations. The torture and murder of Ben Zygier (aka “Prisoner X”) falsely labelled “suicide”, and the kidnapping and silencing of Mordechai Vanunu are but two examples of the lengths the rogue state will go to.
http://archive.org/details/ByWayOfDeception
The only “blood libel” going on these days are the false accusations of anti-semitism hurled at people who make valid criticism of Israel.
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Randyjet, wipe your mouth, the Kool-Aid is dribbling.
My respect for Dr. Hawking only grows.
Stick to the science, let the politicians fight themselves. Dr Hawking does have a right to not attend this conference and to speak out against what he believes are injustices though.
On the issue proper, I think Dr. Hawking is taking a principled stand. And while agree with the general assertion of mespo that Israel is an ally, I stand by the contention that they are not a very good one and have long abused our friendship by being aggressors and then hiding behind our skirts. They are just as bad a neighbor to the surrounding Arab states and the Arab states are to them (in general). Someone has to make the first step to substantive peace and if Israel is simply too mired in neocon jingoism to see that their settlement policy is the exact opposite of helpful and that recognizing the Palestinians have just as much right to exist and statehood as they do then the fallout of the squarely and solely rests upon the shoulders of the Likud and Bibi and their intransigent and warmongering ways.
I forgot to add: It was 15-20 years ago, when the UN proposed a separate treaty, allowing Gaza inhabitants to become a separate nation and to hold elections. Israel’s PM response: Heavens No! And the conflict continues…………..
nick,
That could be the issue, but maybe not. Your comments showed in the spam filter, but it also had the annotation “Cleared by askimet” which is unusual by definition. If the askimet software says it is cleared, it should not be spam. That does, however, make me think they are monkeying with the filter but that does not rule out having indexing problems either.
Weird.
Gene, Check my last comment. I think I’ve found the problem.
It’s got to be the organ meat reference. Let’s give it the ultimate test: HEAD CHEESE..GELATINOUS HEAD CHEESE!
You’re welcome, nick.
Thanks, gene.
Also, I can’t say I’m a fan of organ meat. I’ll eat chicken liver and beef heart although I’m not a fan of beef liver based on taste. Brains, stomach and tripe are off my list for microbiologcal reasons. Most others I’d be willing to try with the exception of lung. Something about that sounds like it would have a nasty texture.
OS,
That’s in part is what so strange about the spam filter as of late. It’s bagging a lot of comments like nick’s with not links at all. In fact, it bagged this reply and I had to login to approve it. I’m not sure what the exact nature of the WP issue with the filter is but I suspect either they are tuning the filter or having some kind of indexing issue. Whatever the cause, I hope they fix it soon.
Nick, how many links are you attaching? Two is the limit on WordPress. Also, if you have one of the forbidden words possibly embedded in another word, it will block. For example, “b@st@rdization.”
I tried a couple of times to link to a book on Amazon and a couple of other online booksellers. Those will not go through, apparently because a lot of links are embedded in the main link. WordPress doesn’t like that.
nick,
I unspamed and approved your original posting both on this and the Wrigley thread. I’m not sure why the spam filter caught them in the first place unless maybe it doesn’t like tripe any more than it likes spam.
mespo, I’m being blocked again. Can someone assist?
Tripe continued. My father and I loved tripe. There was a great restaurant in the horrible city of Waterbury, Ct. that closed in the 70’s. It specialized in peasant Italian food. My father and I would order tripe and even better, sufrito! The rest of the fam would avert their eyes as they ate more mundane entrees. I’ve not seen it on a menu since then. This coincides w/ what a wise old doc in Boston told my brothers. Our culture stopped eating organ meat when Boomers came of age. We have a vitamin D deficiency in our country because organ meat is loaded w/ vitamin D and it’s just not part of our diet.
An addnote:
Regarding my psychiatrist friend. He moved away from here two or three years ago. He took a job in Saudi Arabia where he can practice psychiatry without worrying about his family’s safety.
His house was firebombed several times. Somebody threw Molotov cocktails at his house in the middle of the night, starting fires. His wife and kids were inside at the time. He said he could not risk staying any longer for the safety of his family. He sold his home and moved.
This community lost one of the best psychiatrists ever to work at the mental health center because of bigotry. On the upside for him, I suspect the job he took in Saudi Arabia probably pays more in a month than he made in a year working in this rural area. No taxes on the salary, and I am told by a mutual friend, they gave him a nice house.
As for the bigots who thought it would be a good idea to endanger his wife and kids, forcing him to leave this community; most of his former patients think hanging would be too good for them.
I’ll try again, mespo. I’ll do it in stages. Tripe is peasant food for any culture. I like menudo but it is often to spicy for me to handle. When I find a restaurant that isn’t too spicy I’ll order it. I love spicy, but it causes me agita in my 6th decade.
Nick S,
You can’t use that example of Canada & the US for Israel and the Gaza Strip. See my response to ARE about Gaza not being a nation.
Also, read OS’ thread. This is an ongoing war of the Crusades? It hasn’t really ended?
nick:
The ice rinks, ok. But. No! Not the breweries!!! Where will I get my Moosehead???
For some reason, wordpress is not allowing me to respond to mespo on his tripe question. I tried once here, and twice on the Wrigley thread where he asked me about tripe on menus!